Jocelyn West

Jocelyn West published new journal article

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 19:41:28 +0000

Jocelyn West published new journal article Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 06/04/2023 - 13:41

Jocelyn West has published a new journal article Social Vulnerability and Population Loss in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in Population and Environment.
This research began in David Pyrooz's research design course, developed through Data 1 and 2 with Jason Boardman and Kyle Thomas, and further improved as a third year paper / MA thesis with constructive feedback from Lori Peek, Fernando Riosmena, and Kyle Thomas. Thanks to everyone who has supported this work in some way.
- Abstract: Communities in Puerto Rico saw their populations shrink after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Of the archipelago’s 884 populated census tracts, 613 tracts (69.3%) experienced a net population loss with an average loss of 161 people. To understand the relationship between social vulnerability and post-disaster population loss, informed by theories of environmental migration, I compare a measure of social vulnerability in Puerto Rico to population change in each tract. This study also provides an opportunity to evaluate the validity of the social vulnerability index (SVI) in Puerto Rico. Through six spatial regression models, I find that the current 15-variable SVI significantly predicts greater population loss for more vulnerable areas in Puerto Rico, in which the most vulnerable tracts lost 81 more people than tracts at the median. However, a revised 10-variable SVI—created after factor analysis by removing variables for mobile homes, group quarters, multi-unit dwellings, minority status, and limited English proficiency—produces an even larger effect size when predicting population loss, in which the most vulnerable tracts lost about 175 more people than the least vulnerable. Results suggest that a 10-variable SVI may have higher construct validity for the context of Puerto Rico and could become a foundation for a measure that better reflects local experiences with disaster. This is the first study to test the relationship between a social vulnerability index and post-disaster population change in Puerto Rico. These findings highlight the need for further investigation of the link between social vulnerability and post-disaster migration and underscore the importance of context-specific measures of social vulnerability.

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Jocelyn West's Research Funded

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 19:06:32 +0000

Jocelyn West's Research Funded Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/06/2023 - 12:06

Jocelyn West's collaborative research proposal "Assessing Social Vulnerability to Landslides in Rural Puerto Rico" was approved for funding ($49,764) from the Public Health Disaster Research Award Program: Research in U.S. Territories, Tribal Areas, and Rural Communities, which is administered by the Natural Hazards Center with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This funding will support Jocelyn and an interdisciplinary team of colleagues and students in Puerto Rico who will work together to conduct mixed methods research to understand the population exposed to landslide hazards. The proposal title and project abstract are included below.

Assessing Social Vulnerability to Landslide Hazards in Rural Puerto Rico
Jocelyn West, �鶹ӰԺ
Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz, USDA Caribbean Climate Hub
K. Stephen Hughes, University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez

Although landslides frequently affect mobility and health across rural Puerto Rico, it is still unknown how many people live in high-risk areas for landslides. This study will first estimate the population exposed to landslide hazards based on a high-resolution susceptibility map. Then, this study will quantitatively analyze social vulnerability among the exposed populations. Finally, we will validate the quantitative analysis through qualitative fieldwork with key rural communities, resulting in a map-based public health tool in both Spanish and English for understanding and addressing the needs of populations at risk to landslides in Puerto Rico.

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The Racial/Ethnic Inequalities Research Awards - Summer 2021

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 17:42:38 +0000

The Racial/Ethnic Inequalities Research Awards - Summer 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/23/2021 - 11:42

The Racial/Ethnic Inequalities Research Awards support graduate students of color as well as graduate student research on race/ethnicity. For summer 2021, we are able to fund seven exciting research projects. The award winners and their project titles are:

Jose Sanchez and Jen Tostlebe: "Where colors collide: Does race moderate the gang membership and misconduct association?"
Melissa Villarreal: Dissertation research (intersectional, multi-level analysis of Mexican immigrants and their disproportionate vulnerability in post-disaster recovery)
Kim Truong-Vu: Dissertation research (examining Asian American subgroup differences in the likelihood of initiating the HPV vaccine series)
Adenife Modile: Dissertation research: “Anemia in Sub-Saharan Africa: improved Understanding of the Determinants of Maternal Iron Deficiency”
Jocelyn West: Third year Paper research: "What’s in an Index? Evaluating a Measure of Social Vulnerability in Puerto Rico"
Jax Gonzalez: Dissertation research (examination of critical teacher education program)
Micah Pyles and Asa Iacobucci: "The ‘Color of COVID:’ Historicizing the Structural Disparities that Drive Disproportionate Mortality Rates among African American Communities"

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Jocelyn West Awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 16:36:58 +0000

Jocelyn West Awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/19/2021 - 10:36

Jocelyn West was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which offers $34,000 per year for three years to support her research and graduate education. With this award, she will be studying the social dimensions of landslides in Puerto Rico. After 71,000 landslides were triggered by Hurricane María in 2017, she hopes to identify which residents were most affected by landslide hazards, and why. She will also research the cascading impacts of landslides on communities during the response to Hurricane María. This information will support ongoing efforts to improve landslide risk communication and disaster preparedness in Puerto Rico.

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Grad student, Jocelyn West, book review accepted for publication

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 19:23:47 +0000

Grad student, Jocelyn West, book review accepted for publication Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/22/2020 - 13:23

Jocelyn West's book review of Governing Affect: Neoliberalism and Disaster Reconstruction by Roberto Barrios has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. The review was first written as part of David Cook-Martín's course Logics of Qualitative Inquiry, and submitted for publication thanks to guidance from Lori Peek.

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Graduate student, Jocelyn West, gives webinar on research on landslides in Puerto Rico

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 16:51:22 +0000

Graduate student, Jocelyn West, gives webinar on research on landslides in Puerto Rico Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/26/2020 - 10:51

Jocelyn West presented a webinar about an ongoing collaborative research project on risk communication for landslides in Puerto Rico. The project team includes Lori Peek as well as students and scientists from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez and U.S. Geological Survey. You can view the webinar recording here. It is part of the Natural Hazards Center's Making Mitigation Work webinar series.

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